


First Thought Best Thought (30 Days of Writing)

by barricadebutts



Category: Nothing Much to Do
Genre: 30 days writing challenge, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-17
Updated: 2014-11-23
Packaged: 2018-02-25 17:18:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2629925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/barricadebutts/pseuds/barricadebutts
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of drabbles dealing with thirty different writing prompts for each day of the month via Tumblr.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Collide

**Author's Note:**

> I am no stranger to writing challenges so we'll see how well this one goes (and by that I mean let's see how long it takes me to forget about this one). I'm going to try and get them written during my free time at school and then get around to editing and posting them later at night.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Balthazar is very late to class because of an alarm mishap and Pedro isn't helping very much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 1 is 'collide'.
> 
> This takes place sometime before the vlogs start happening. As the stories continue, I plan on incorporating more of those events into the mix.
> 
> I do not currently have a beta so all mistakes are my own.
> 
> Let me know what you think!

Balthazar is late. Very late. His alarm didn’t go off this morning and no he’s practically running from his car to his first period. He isn’t looking where he’s going, only that he knows no one should really be in his way at 8:29 when classes started at 8:30.

As he turns a corner, he’s aware of his body slamming head long into some poor soul, hot coffee spilling all over him, and his back hitting the floor in a very uncomfortable manner. All his senses really account for though is the flaming cup of coffee that he’s now wearing all over the front of a white button up.  He then looks up and sees not just any old kid though, but Pedro—student leader Pedro—on the ground nursing his right wrist. He figures the other boy must have fallen on it oddly, and judging by his position, he was heading away from the classrooms, the very place Balthazar was trying to get to.

“Pedro?” Balthazar exclaims in surprise. And before Pedro can respond, the bell rings. “Shit,” he mutters to himself.

Pedro looks up and sees Balthazar with his hair barely brushed and coffee now thoroughly soaking his white shirt. “Why are you so late?” he dazedly asks and Balthazar holds himself back from asking the same question.

“My alarm didn’t go off. I probably would’ve been able to make it to class in time too if you hadn’t been in my way just now.” Pedro laughs to himself and pushes himself off of the ground. He wipes his hands on his pant legs and walks over to Balthazar and offers a hand to help him up. Balthazar takes the offered hand and pulls himself up.

“That thirty seconds totally would’ve helped too. Damn Balth, your shirt is soaking wet. I have an extra sweater in my locker if you want.”

Balthazar, now adjusting his bag’s strap, is trying to ignore the scorching pain of the hot drink all over him, and he was half way succeeding until Pedro brings it up. Suddenly his chest is on fire again so he nods his head quicker than he probably should have, but Pedro _did_ just offer to give him one of his sweaters. Plus, he’s already late; what’re a few more minutes?

Balthazar quickly finds out that the locker Pedro was referring to is actually his football locker and not his school one. The resulting trip is a few minutes longer, but he doesn’t mind considering he gets to spend that much more time with Pedro. When they get there, Pedro hands off his sweater to Balthazar and the latter finds that he’s never seen his friend in this piece of clothing. Try as he might now, Balthazar can’t help but imagine what Pedro would look like with the oversized sweater—and oh God, he needs to stop thinking of this scenario.

“Do you think it’ll do?” Pedro ventures to ask after neither boy says anything for a few minutes.

The other boy looks up and instantly blushes, but nods nevertheless. “Yeah, thanks Pedro.” Balthazar shucks the other shirt off and notices how red his chest is from the coffee. He turns around quickly so Pedro won’t get concerned and throws the sweater over his head. It’s a lot bigger than he realized, but it’ll do nicely for the kind of day he’s already been having.

Balthazar picks up his bag from the floor and slings it across his body when the door to the locker room swings open to the sight of Coach Allen, the gym teacher, walking in. “And where are we supposed to be, Mr. Donaldson? Mr. Jones?”

“Well you see sir, Balth spilled coffee all over his shirt,” Balthazar limply holds up the shirt and lets Pedro keep talking. “So I offered him my sweater—which was in my locker down here—and we were just going back to class. Didn’t mean to make him late though.” Balthazar knew Pedro was good, but he had no idea he was this good—regardless of how true the story was. He had a way of sugarcoating even the most mundane of facts.

Coach Allen nods skeptically and points out the door. “Both of you get to class; you’re late.”

The boys both mutter “yes, sir” and hurry out of the locker room and into the quickly warming day outside.

“Nice one,” Balthazar states when they’re far enough away from the ears of the gym coach.

“What,” Pedro begins, “it was all true. I just made it sound a little better.” He slings an arm around the other boy’s shoulders and pulls him closer. “See you at practice today?”

Balthazar nods and can’t help but notice the butterflies that erupt in his stomach. “Yep, I’ll be cheering you on from the side lines.”

“Awesome,” Pedro says and withdrawals his arm before parting ways. “See you after school, Balth.”

“Yeah,” he whispers, “See you.”


	2. Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group is all together for a late night hangout at Hero's house-- the only problem: it's pouring rain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 2 is 'storm'.
> 
> Second day starting (or rather ending) strong!
> 
> So this chapter takes place before Hero's birthday party when everyone still 100% liked each other (besides Bea and Ben trying to hate each other). Also, as the stories continue, I don't think they'll follow any definite timeline, and for that I am sorry.  
> I'll admit that I think the ending got away from me a bit but... it's late, sue me.
> 
> Anyways, I still don't have a beta, so all mistakes are my own (though I did proofread it).
> 
> Let me know what you think.

            “I’m bored,” Meg complains from where she’s sitting on the couch in Hero's living room. She’s clutching a mug of hot chocolate with a blanket wrapped snuggly around her.

            Pedro, sitting on the floor in front of the loveseat where Balthazar is currently absorbed into his phone, doesn’t look over to answer Meg. “We could always play Truth or Dare. That could offer some fun.”

            Beatrice scoffs from the kitchen where she’s refilling her own hot chocolate. “Yeah, no thanks. _None_ of us need the potential fallout from that game.”

            “Oh come on,” Ben shouts from where he’s sprawled across the floor. “It’ll be fun, Bea! What would you rather do, run out in the rain?” As if to answer his question, a rumble of thunder sounds from outside that shakes the windows.

            Pedro feels Balthazar jump behind him, the phone dropping out of his hands and landing right on top of Pedro’s head. “Jesus, Balth. You’re fine, nothing’s gonna happen.”

            Balthazar breathes harshly through his nose and mumbles a quick “sorry”. He picks up his phone from where it’s fallen to the ground and exits out of whatever app he had been on.

            “All right, fine,” Beatrice exclaims as she comes back into the room. “You all want to play Truth or Dare? Who here wants to play?” Hero and Ursula half raise their hands (because what else _is_ there to do at this point? They’ve already watched all of their movies and caught up on television shows.), Claudio and Ben shoot their hands into the sky, and the rest of the group just shrug their shoulders. Balthazar makes a noise that sounds like an “oh no”, but Pedro’s pretty sure he’s the only one who hears it.

            “Why don’t you go first Bea?” Pedro asks with a smirk on his face. If looks could kill, the look she throws him would surely have put Pedro six feet under the ground.

            As if the situation could be made any worse, Ben decides that it would be a good idea to interject his own voice at this moment. “Truth or Dare, Beatrice.”

            “I did not agree to this. _Don’t_ bring me into the stupid game of yours.” She sits down next to Meg in a huff and glares at Pedro from across the room.

            Ben laughs, and being Ben, he sits up and decides to continue on with the game. “Fine, I’ll go. Pedro, ask me ‘Truth or Dare’.” He’s using his ‘I’m trying to be dramatic but I sound like a weird English bloke instead’ voice and Pedro rolls his eyes.

            “Fine. Benedick, Truth or Dare? I bet I can already guess what you’re going to say too.” Ben pretends to think for a moment and Pedro mouths along to the other boy’s “truth”. “Wow, shocking.” He earns a cuff to the head from Balthazar for that one.

            Before Pedro can rattle off a question though, Meg spouts one off the top of her head. “Why do you and Beatrice hate each other so much?”

            “Because he’s an ignorant asshole, that’s why,” Beatrice interjects but Meg silences her.

            “Hey, you’re not playing this game, remember? Plus, I asked Ben.”

            “Uh, what Beatrice said.”

            “What a copout answer,” Pedro scoffs. Balthazar knocks him in the head again.

            “Alright fine. Pedro, who’s the lucky woman in your life right now?” Ben fires back.

            And now Pedro’s confused. “One, I never said I wanted to answer truth, but whatever, I’ll roll with it; two, I don’t have a ‘lucky woman’ in my life? What would give you that idea? Who have you honestly seen me with enough that you would draw a conclusion like that?”

            Ben throws his hands up in surrender. “Whoa dude, it was just a question, relax.”

            The game continues to happen (much to Beatrice’s chagrin who continues to deny all efforts to include her) and more people decide to take part. Pedro’s even managed to persuade Balthazar to do a round and almost regrets making him as soon as he—stupidly—picks dare. Meg has a wicked grin on her face and Pedro’s actually a little afraid with what she’s going to make him do.

            “I dare you... to go outside and stand in the rain—not under the porch—but in the rain for three minutes.” Three minutes out in a rainstorm probably isn’t that bad to most people, but Balthazar is terrified of thunder and lightning. Sometimes, if the storm is bad enough, he’ll call Pedro in the middle of the night just to listen to his friend talk to him in an effort to calm him down. Even now, Pedro marvels at the amount of control that Balthazar has with the current storm. He supposes it’s because of all of his friends.                        

            If everyone knew he had a problem with the storm, Meg probably wouldn’t have dared him to go and stand in it—the only problem: Meg doesn’t know he’s afraid; no one but Pedro knows. “Fine,” he says and pushes the blankets off of him in order to stand up. Pedro’s speechless; he can’t believe Balthazar’s going to go through with it.

            Balthazar makes it two minutes before a huge clap of thunder sounds, shaking even the least nervous people in the group. They’re all watching Balthazar though the windows and can plainly see the look of horror on his face when the clap hits. Knowing how scared he probably is, Pedro opens the door to much protesting from the others and tells Balthazar to get inside. The boy rushes in and Pedro tells him to follow him, he’ll get him a towel.

            The two of them settle into the upstairs bathroom where Pedro fetches him a towel to warm up with.

            “I’m sorry they made you do that. I should have said something, stopped the game.”

            “You’re fine, please don’t beat yourself up over a stupid game. I’m a big boy. Thanks for looking out for me though. It’s nice knowing that I have a friend that would do that for me.”

            Pedro smiles and walks to the door. “I’m gonna go downstairs, make sure everything didn’t fall apart. See you down there shortly?”

            Balthazar nods and takes a breath. “Yep. After you.” 

            The game stops shortly after they both make it back down—but the whispers don’t.


	3. Slide

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A kind of "behind the scenes" look at Project VI- Montage. Or just my own account of what Ursula didn't end up putting in the video (and parts that she did).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 3 is 'slide'.  
> This takes place during Project VI- Montage because I literally could not think of something that would fit the 'slide' prompt until this occurred to me. It's a bit short compared to last night's, but oh well. I've got a pretty good idea for tomorrow's already.  
> As is the same with the previous two days, I do not have a beta. All mistakes are my own.
> 
> Let me know what you think!

It’s actually Beatrice who comes up with the idea to grab the cardboard box and flatten it into a makeshift sled. She’s sitting on the edge of the hill when Pedro, much to Beatrice’s surprise, also jumps on another piece of cardboard and tries to go down the hill ahead of her. The only thing: he fails miserably and ends up rolling down the hill instead.

Beatrice bursts into uncontrollable laughter as she fights with her hair in the wind.

“Okay there, killer?” Ben shouts and Pedro returns a thumbs up to signal his health.

‘It’s nice,’ Pedro thinks to himself as he trudges up the hill, all of his friends and John back together again. Granted, things will never be how they used to and Beatrice is still holding a grudge against him, and that’s fine by Pedro. If Pedro’s being honest, he feels like the only reason Balthazar forgave him finally was because of the sheer amount of time he spent apologizing.

Pedro eventually goes back to sit on their picnic blanket, which they all made sure to steak into the ground, and watches everyone talking and messing around on the hill. The wind is busy whipping in his ears so he misses Balthazar’s quiet “hey” as he walks up from behind.

Pedro jumps a little when the other boy sits beside him and the flutter of butterflies in his stomach is unmistakable. “Hey.”

The two don’t say anything for a minute; they’re busy looking out over the horizon and surrounding town. “So John came back. That’s reassuring for everyone.”

Pedro nods his head a few times. “Yeah. Listen, Balthazar I’m—“

“Pedro stop!” He turns towards him and it’s breathless laughter that escapes, but instead of being happy it just sounds tired. “You’ve already said you’re sorry—a lot too. I forgive you. Can we just forget about all of this?” He gestures to an invisible object and Pedro just nods.

“Do you wanna slide down the hill? It causes quite the rush.” Pedro knows the only way Balthazar will go down the hill is if he’s taped to the board, which makes his answer that much more surprising.

“Sure.” He shrugs. “I’m not gonna fall off and roll away like you did, am I?”

Pedro laughs and shakes his head. “Nah. We’ll get one of the bigger pieces. As long as Ben doesn’t push you off, you should be fine.” Balthazar laughs at that and they both get up to join the others.

When they get to the edge of the hill, Pedro finds that Beatrice and Ben are both lying on the hill halfway down from falling off their respective pieces of cardboard. “All right down there?” he yells but they don’t seem to hear him.

Ursula hands Balthazar a piece of cardboard and he backs up a few feet to get a running start. He lets out a yell as he goes but it gets cut off from Ben no doubt interfering with his path. When Pedro looks down he sees Balthazar on his back with a big grin and giddy laughter spilling from his lips. It sets another swarm of butterflies loose in his stomach.

The day continues on much like it had been and the group eventually relocates to another spot where it’s a bit less windy and better to play a bit of football. They all end up staying way too late and when Balthazar gets a call from his mother asking where he is, everyone piles into Beatrice’s car for the drive back into town. Pedro figures he could get used to the ease at which everyone seems to be able to hang out with each other again so soon. He just crosses his fingers that it’ll stay that way.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to think that Project VI didn't happen too long after everyone kind of made up, but enough time that they'd all be willing to tolerate each other again.  
> Also, I just ordered Love's Labors Lost from this awesome website that's super cheap and easy to buy books from so go check it out if you want some bargin buys: http://www.thriftbooks.com/
> 
> Find me on Tumblr here: http://www.barricade-butts.tumblr.com


	4. Repeat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Balthazar gets a new record and can't help but play it on repeat much to Pedro's chagrin. A lazy day ensues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 4 is 'repeat'.  
> In this one Pedro and Balthazar are already together which means that Bea and Ben would be too, but that's totally not relevant to this story in any way, sorry. I found this prompt a lot easier to fill than yesterday's believe it or not, but whatever.
> 
> As always, I do not have a beta so all mistakes are my own.
> 
> Enjoy and let me know what you think!

Pedro doesn’t knock on Balthazar’s bedroom door before entering anymore, and today is no exception. He opens the door with a spoken “knock knock” and sees Balthazar lying on his bed with his face towards the ceiling. He’s pulled his record player within a reachable distance and is humming along to a song Pedro’s never heard before.

“Did you make a trip to the record store?” he asks, because the song is catchy as hell and he may like it from the thirty seconds of it he’s heard.

Balthazar jumps slightly, not realizing he’d been in the room. “Yeah, I got back like an hour ago. Why?”

Pedro shrugs and sits down on the bed. “Because I haven’t heard this song twenty million times yet, but I know I’m about to.” Balthazar sits up and since he’s sitting slightly behind Pedro, he rests his chin on the boy’s shoulder.

“I do not do that. ‘Sigh No More’ just happens to be my favorite song of all time.”

Pedro nods knowingly but he knows that Balthazar’s full of shit. “No, but you do get whatever song you’re listening to that week stuck in your head and then it gets stuck in my head and I end up knowing it enough to perform it all from memory shortly thereafter.”

“Mmm? We both know that’s not quite true.” Balthazar quips before planting a quick kiss on Pedro’s neck and sitting back on his haunches to reset the record to the beginning.

The other boy laughs and turns around. “You’re doing it right now! Just admit it, you’ve been laying here for the past hour listening to the same song over and over again.”

“I’m not glorifying your question with an answer.” The song starts up again and Pedro shakes his head.

“At least tell me what song it is so I can look up the lyrics now to save on memorization time.”

Balthazar slaps his shoulder playfully but still doesn’t answer. “It’s not exactly the same genre as Mumford.”

“No shit; I can tell from the drums and the severe lack of banjo in the background. I promise I won’t laugh or say ‘how un-Balthazar this choice in music is’.” Pedro finds the whole thing rather amusing but at the same time he tries not to take it too personally that Balthazar is nervous to share his music taste—this isn’t the first time and it certainly won’t be the last.

“Their name is Walk the Moon and they’re from the States and they’re really good. It’s their new song called ‘Different Colors’ and oh my God Pedro it’s amazing.” Balthazar looks like a little kid on Christmas day and Pedro can’t help smiling at how giddy his boyfriend is acting.

“Why did you never tell me about them? I’m liking the song, but that’s not unusual considering I like 99% of the music you listen to anyways,” Pedro states and he notices that Balthazar blushes slightly.

He picks at his thumb nail for a minute before answering. “I don’t know… I liked them being my own little secret? And before you answer, it wasn’t because I was afraid you’d mock them, it’s because I like being the only one knowing about stuff sometimes.”

Pedro snorts and shoves him slightly and Balthazar just falls back onto the bed. “Wow, you hipster. Do you hear yourself speaking right now? The best part about having people like the same stuff as you is so you can share the fun! Stop being such a dork.”

Balthazar smiles sheepishly and reaches up for Pedro’s hand. “Quit complaining about me not telling you what my artist of the month is and just start the record over real quick, okay?” The other boy shakes his head and moves the needle before lying down next to his boyfriend.

“Is this what you’re planning on doing all day?” Pedro asks, because he has no problem with it, he just needs to know if he needs to cancel any plans with Ben or the rest of the group.

Balthazar looks over at him with a small smile on his face. “Maybe with a food and bathroom break thrown in there somewhere, but I’d like to. I need a day to just lie down and relax.” He turns and shuffles closer to Pedro so that he can rest his head on the other boy’s chest.

“Fine by me,” Pedro responds.

They both end up falling asleep and Balthazar’s mom ends up coming in and shutting off the record player to silence the dull thuds the needle keeps making at having reached the end of the track. It turns out to be a pretty relaxing day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Walk the Moon released their new song "Different Colors" which I totally listened to the entire time while writing this chapter, so I just had Balth listen to it as well. You can listen to it too here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QjqCJOPu-M  
> It's really good.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this little part.
> 
> My tumblr: http://www.barricade-butts.tumblr.com


	5. Rain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pedro takes Balthazar on a cheesy picnic for their six-month anniversary but not everything goes to plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 5 is 'rain'.
> 
> So I've almost made it a week (even though I'm submitting this at 11:50 on Thursday night). This may be the furthest I've ever gotten. Anyways, I hope you all like this chapter. I think I've read a post on Tumblr where Pedro was the sappy romantic and so I kind of applied that here; hope it works. 
> 
> I don't have a beta so all mistakes are my own.
> 
> Let me know what you guys think!

Pedro had practically begged for Balthazar to go on a picnic for their six-month anniversary. “Why?” Balthazar had asked at the time. “That’s such a cliché romantic thing to do.” Pedro had responded back with an “exactly!”

So now thanks to Pedro, Balthazar finds himself and his guitar being dragged to a small field, different than the one that their friend group hangs out in, for a late afternoon/early evening dinner between the two of them. It’s been cloudy all day and no matter how much Balthazar keeps saying that it’s going to rain and ruin everything—guitar included, Pedro just hushes him and plows forward with the plan.

Balthazar finds that Pedro made them sandwiches, a few sides, and their favorite dessert, and it’s actually quite nice—cliché but fantastic. But no matter how many times that Balthazar asks Pedro who helped him with the food, the latter denies and feigns offense that Balthazar would think so low of him—he’s got his money on Ursula or Meg though.

“You know I really do appreciate this, right?” Balthazar asks when they take a moment of silence to take in the serenity around them. 

Pedro sips at his bottle of water and smiles at the boy sitting across from him. “I’m glad. I’d rather be out here with you than in a crowded restaurant any day, you know?” And Balthazar does know. He hadn’t thought of that when Pedro had originally suggested the idea, but as he thinks now, he can’t imagine a better way to spend the evening.

“Totally. I—“ Balthazar stops in the middle of his sentence as he feels something wet hit his nose. “Did you feel that?”

The other boy looks over at him and frowns. “No. Balth, I think you’re imagining it. It’s not raining, and it’s not supposed to.” As if to prove a point he pulls out his phone and shows Balthazar the radar image, which is perfectly clear.

“Fine, I believe you. But if it starts raining and we’re in the middle of this field with no protection and my guitar gets ruined, you’re buying me a new one.” Pedro nods and leans forward to kiss Balthazar lightly on the lips. He returns it with a smile and leans back. “That’s not gonna get you out of buying me a new guitar.” Pedro just laughs.

\----------

They spend the next fifteen minutes chatting about this and that and Pedro convinces Balthazar to play him something on the guitar. When Balthazar asks what he wants, Pedro just says whatever Mumford song his heart desires. That of course means that he ends up playing ‘Sigh No More’ and Pedro is just as mesmerized as ever. His heart swells with affection and he can’t think of anyone that’s luckier than the two of them.

“Have I ever told you how amazing you are?” he comments after Balthazar’s done playing.

The boy seems to blush from his neck up to his ears in an instant. “You may have mentioned it once or twice.”

“Well you are. You’re amazing and you should never stop playing.” Balthazar nods gratefully and just as he’s about to put the guitar back in its case, the mysterious raindrop that fell on him earlier decides to make its return with a few of its friends. And by a few of its friends, Balthazar means the entire fricking cloud seems to open up at once with little to no warning.

They’re drenched almost instantly and Balthazar jumps up with his guitar case, now fully clasped shut. Pedro’s still sitting on the ground with an expression on his face that looks as if he just had a bucket full of ice water dumped on his head.

“Where’s your pesky radar now, huh?” Balthazar raises his voice over the din of the rain so that Pedro can hear him. “Moral of this story: don’t trust the weatherman, trust your boyfriend.”

Pedro pushes himself off of the ground and walks the few feet to where Balthazar’s sulking with his guitar. He smiles at the slightly shorter boy before leaning in to kiss him. It’s gentle at first, but Balthazar grabs onto Pedro’s jacket collar and Pedro has his hands on either side of the Balthazar’s face and sure, it’s cheesy and romantic, but that’s just one more thing the two can cross off the bucket lists.


	6. Alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pedro reflects on the situation with Hero and how utterly alone and stupid he feels throughout it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 6 is 'alone'.
> 
> So this one's a bit more angsty...maybe? I could NOT think of something to write for this one but I managed this somehow. It might be crap...sorry.  
> It's kinda short and just a snippet into what Pedro might be feeling, so apologies if I didn't explore his emotions a bit more.  
> I don't have a beta so all mistakes are still mine.
> 
> Tell me what you think!

The whole situation with Hero really puts a damper on things for Pedro. It’s clear that he isn’t alone in his beliefs about Hero; after all, he has Claudio, but it isn’t enough. He’s lacking his core friend group. The people that keep him grounded and tell him when enough was enough. He’s lacking Balthazar.

He tells himself it’s stupid to miss someone that hasn’t really left and think that you can’t go on without them, but he does. He feels utterly alone with Claudio standing by his side.

And now as he learns that Hero’s hurt and really sick, he wants to punch himself in the face. Hell, he wants each one of his friends to punch him as much as they want, until they feel he’s earned his punishment. But he knows they never would—well, maybe Beatrice would at this point but there’s no point in asking.

Pedro's made a habit of taking a different route to class than he's used to for the sole purpose of not having to deal with their judging looks. Sometimes he'll catch a glance at Ben from across the commons or see Ursula staring at him while she's talking to some other kids and he makes a point of turning immediately away from them. He hasn't seen Balthazar --in the hallway or outside of school-- in over two weeks and he feels like it's eating him up inside. 

Pedro feels like if he’s ever forgiven for what he’s done, he’ll have to find a new friend group anyways because of how outcaste he knows he’ll be.

\--------- 

It’s maybe another week before he sees Balthazar standing by his locker, seemingly waiting for him. Pedro’s heart leaps for joy but his excitement quickly quells at the frown on the boy’s face.

“Balthazar,” he states in the most nonchalant tone he can muster at the moment.

“Hero’s fine,” he answers because he’s only here to tell Pedro the facts. He doesn’t feel the need for common courtesies with what his feelings are doing to him right now. “Well, she’s still sick, but she’s not dead as I’ve heard Claudio whispering about.”

Pedro nods his head. Even though he already knows this (he heard Ursula talking to Burgess in their film studies class that it wasn’t right to spread rumors that weren’t true) he’s still happy that Balthazar finds he can still talk to Pedro, if even just a little.

Nevertheless he plays dumb. “Right, no I would never spread around rumors. Especially not about one of my friends.”

“Friend?” Balthazar asks utterly confused. “How could you possibly think she’d still be your friend? Pedro you helped Claudio _humiliate_ her in front of all of her friends. Rumors are still spreading like wildfire and you think she’ll just forgive you like that?” He snaps his finger to reiterate the point he’s trying to make.

Pedro’s heart sinks in his chest and he realizes that he’ll probably never get Balthazar back either. “I’ve said I was sorry. I still am! What more do you all _want?”_ Balthazar doesn’t answer because the bell rings right then and everyone starts to go to class.

“Look, we’re all getting together for a little tribute thing to Hero. Apologies and well wishes. Come if you want. It’ll be at our usual spot so try not to ‘get lost’.” Balthazar doesn’t say anything else as he pushes away from the locker and walks to his next class. If it were possible Pedro feels even worse now than he did before talking to Balthazar. He figures he needs to go if he truly wants everyone to see how sorry he is about the whole thing and saves the date in his head for later. He just wonders if Claudio will end up going as well.


	7. Window

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben and Claudio get into a bit of trouble while messing around with the football at school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 7 is 'window'.
> 
> Hey, sorry I'm a day late, I was busy yesterday, but I'm back. I'm not letting myself not complete the challenge even if it'll just take me 31 days not instead of 30.  
> Anyways, I figured if anyone could get themselves into a situation like this it would be Ben and Claudio so here you all go. Also, I couldn't remember if they gave Claudio a last name and if they didn't I didn't want to come up with my own, so sorry about that.
> 
> As always, I do not have a beta so all mistakes are my own.
> 
> Tell me what you think!

Ben and Claudio are busy kicking around the football at the school football field when it happens. Ben gets cocky and instead of kicking it like a normal person to Claudio, he kicks it as hard as he can (which also minimizes the accuracy and control he has over the ball) and instead of Claudio being able to catch it, the ball soars over his head and goes straight into one of the school windows. The boys both watch as it falls to the ground, leaving a cracked window in its wake.

Claudio turns to look at Ben across the field with a look of horror on his face. They were dead; the both of them were probably better off dead at the current moment. “Are you shitting me right now?!” Claudio yells across the field. “Are you properly serious right now?”

Ben runs over to the window and takes a look. There’s not currently a class in there right now and he visibly exhales. They might not get caught. The two of them could grab the soccer ball, stuff it into one of their lockers and forget the whole thing ever happened. That plan though, did not account for the principal marching across the field towards them at that moment.

“Boys!” he yells, startling Ben out of his thoughts. Claudio stuffs his hands into his pockets and drops his head to the ground. He is _not_ going down for Ben’s mistake.

Ben walks over to where Claudio and Principal Smith are now standing and smiles his usual cheeky smile. “Hi there, Mr. Smith,”

“Mr. Hobbes,” he replies without a hint of amusement. “Just what exactly were you and Mr. Claudio up to out here?” He’s staring daggers at Benedick now, but Ben’s just staring right back without a care in the world.

“Well you see, Mr. Smith, Claudio and I were just kicking the football around out here when you showed up. Nothing but some harmless fun in the summer heat.”

Mr. Smith eyes him suspiciously and motions towards the window. Claudio follows his stare and tries to hide his smile in the process. “Do you have something to say, Claudio? Would you like to explain how the window got cracked, and how you’re planning on replacing it?”

Claudio looks up, eyes growing wide at the question. “I—I… It was Ben. He was trying to show off and he kicked the ball too high and too far and that’s what happened,” he gestures to the window and averts his eyes from Ben, who’s no doubt ready to kill him.

“Is this true, Mr. Hobbes?”

Ben looks over at the principal and tries desperately to come up with an excuse. “Um, well, uh, yeah. But it was totally by accident. I didn’t mean to knock out the window. I’m not going to be suspended am I?”

Mr. Smith looks at him levelly and sighs. “You’ll have a day of in school suspension—both of you—and you won’t play football during school hours without supervision again, do you hear me?” Both boys nod vigorously and Mr. Smith nods. “Good. You’ll report to the ISS room tomorrow morning and I’ll make a call to the school board about that window. On your way, I figure lunch is almost over.”

The boys hurry quickly away and Ben slaps Claudio on the shoulder. “ _Really_?”

Claudio shrugs as Hero walks up to them. “You two alright? You look like you’ve both just seen a ghost.”

“Yeah, well Claudio just knocked out one of the windows to the school with the football and Principal Smith caught him. We’ll be fine though, just a day of ISS.” And Ben walks away with a hop in his step before Claudio or Hero can say anything more. He leaves Claudio spluttering and dumbfounded at what just went down.


End file.
